Queen Me

I've been feeling rather sorry for myself off and on for the last, oh, ten weeks or so.  When I was grubbing around for something fast and easy to knit I came across the crown pattern I used to knit Princess LC's crown and thought, "hey, I could use a crown too."  I dug around in the stash for some red and sparkly yarn, cast on, and yesterday I got all the tails woven in and now I'm a queen.  No, I'm THE Queen.  Of America, or maybe Wisconsin, or only Green Bay, but Mennen Court for sure.  It needs a turn through the washer and dryer to firm it up a bit but I like it.

The first lilies are blooming out front.  The weeds that decimated the milkweed also seem to have crowded out some of the less assertive lilies along the lot line but maybe they're just running behind.  The first poppy to bloom is already fading but more have opened to take its place.  The peony buds are swelling, and the honeysuckle blossoms should open any day.  We need those to open because until they do hummingbird visits are sparse, leading Durwood to think they're not around anymore, but I keep telling him that they're busy tending their nest and soon as the first clutch fledges she'll lead the babies to the food and there will be lots more for the rest of the season.  He goes through this every year, thinking that someone's nectar is more attractive than his, but the birdies always come back.





I wish I had sound with this picture of the fountain.  The water sounds so soothing as it spills from bowl to bowl and then back into the basin.

June 8--Ron Kimball, Diner-Corvette.  "Hubcaps Diner" scrawled in pink and yellow neon across the black metal roof and the facade below the windows was black and white tile in a checkerboard pattern.  "A theme restaurant?"  Cheryl looked at Bob as if he'd pulled up in front of some gut bucket of a place.  "Really?  You expect me to eat here?"  For the last hundred miles every word out of her mouth was razor sharp and dripped sarcasm.  So far he had managed to tune her out by sinking into the even roar of the Corvette's engine and the mountains on the horizon.  He clipped his sunglasses to the visor and turned to her.  "It got good reviews online and is supposed to have healthy choices on the menu."  He got out of the low car and stretched.  He hoped no one heard the series of pops as his spine flexed.  Hitting fifty was a surprise, it seems like parts of him he'd always been able to rely on were wearing out.  Cheryl's blond head rose over the car's roof as she stood up and he saw her mouth moving but he couldn't hear what she said.  "What?"  She threw him a disgusted look and fingered the phone bud in her ear.  He thought maybe he'd just drive off while she picked at her wheat berry and arugula salad.  That made him smile for the first time in days.

Know what I'd say to him?  "Go, Bob, go."  I get to work today and it's payday.  Yippee.  Yesterday I did a lot, probably too much, but in my defense I'd do something and then sit on the couch with an ice pack for at least an hour before getting up to tackle another chore.  That's good, right?  Today if I'm lucky the customers will space themselves out nicely so I can do the same at work.  I'm outta here.
--Barbara